A communication system for transmitting signals between two or more subscriber units via at least a first transmission chain and a second transmission chain, the communication system comprising:
- a plurality of subscriber units each of said plurality of subscriber units being configured to input signals to be transmitted and to output received signals;
- at least a first and second transmission chain, each of said at least first and second transmission chain having at least one subscriber-attributed processing unit;
- each of said at least one subscriber-attributed processing unit being connected to at least one of said plurality of subscriber units;
- each of said plurality of subscriber units being connected to a subscriber-attributed processing unit of the first transmission chain and to a subscriber-attributed processing unit of the second transmission chain;
- said subscriber-attributed processing units of a respective transmission chain being connected to one another via a wideband transmission path;
- at least one subscriber-attributed processing unit of said first transmission chain and at least one subscriber-attributed processing unit of said second transmission chain being connected to one another via at least one wideband transmission interlink, said at least one wideband transmission interlink being configured to forward signals from said first transmission chain to said second transmission chain and/or from said second transmission chain to said first transmission chain, and
- said at least one subscriber-attributed processing unit having the wideband transmission interlink having:
- a switching unit being connected to the wideband transmission path of the respective transmission chain and to the at least one wideband transmission interlink, and being configured to switch between the wideband transmission path of the respective transmission chain and the wideband transmission interlink for transmitting signals from the respective other transmission chain,
- an error detection unit being connected to the switching unit, the error detection unit of the first transmission chain being configured to
- check whether signals input on a subscriber unit are transmitted via the wideband transmission path of the first transmission chain, and
- to trigger the switching unit to switch from the wideband transmission path of the first transmission chain to the wideband transmission interlink for transmitting signals from the second transmission chain if the input signals fail to be transmitted via the wideband transmission path of the first transmission chain, and
- the error detection unit of the second transmission chain being configured to
- check whether signals input on a subscriber unit are transmitted via the wideband transmission path of the second transmission chain, and
- trigger the switching unit to switch from the wideband transmission path of the second transmission chain to the wideband transmission interlink for transmitting signals from the first transmission chain if the input signals fail to be transmitted via the wideband transmission path of the second transmission chain, and
- a processing unit being connected downstream of the switching unit, said processing unit being supplied with the signals selected by the switching unit.